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TvT games are stupid, but ZvZ games are worse, especially at lower skill levels: Marvel as we attack move our blobs into each other!

I kind of hate playing Starcraft II online - I know I'm not that good, but I always seem to be good enough to somehow end up in gold/plat leagues (this may be an issue with how the placement system works), and then proceed to lose the next 25 games. I rarely seem to run into a balanced game, either I win easier, or (more often) I get my face kicked in.

Terrendos: I just won a close game against Zerg. Mad storms pulled my butt out of the fire. Templars for life.

s_86: Lemming's mom for life.

TurboMan177: Nevermind, I figured it out on my own.

Stimtokolos: OMG! Just lost to a dual Reaper rush in a 2v2!

seems a lot like the thread as it is atm.
Compare to other gaming threads; my prediction is that everyone will play the SP, we'll have 2-3 weeks of poeple saying the game is awesome, firebats are op and "AMG I WUNNA DO KERRIGUN/ZERATOOL\GAYNOR!". after this, we'll have the main bulk of people switching to MP, the next 2 weeks will be MP imbalances and people "late to the party" saying "I know I'm late but maaan this game is sweet. also I'd totally do those critters in the desert maps". after this it'll be MP with a *possible* rerun of certain sp missions due to easter eggs and/or hidden levels.
Nice and tidy if you ask me!

I tend to 10-pool against Z or R. T/P I trust the lack of rush enough to 14-gas, 14-pool speedling/baneling opening transition to Muta or Hydra, but Z or R I tend to assume some form of rush is coming, and I've never had a 10-pool into baneling not be prepared enough with the queen.

TvT games are stupid, but ZvZ games are worse, especially at lower skill levels: Marvel as we attack move our blobs into each other!

I kind of hate playing Starcraft II online - I know I'm not that good, but I always seem to be good enough to somehow end up in gold/plat leagues (this may be an issue with how the placement system works), and then proceed to lose the next 25 games. I rarely seem to run into a balanced game, either I win easier, or (more often) I get my face kicked in.

I find losses motivating in that I know the more times I get steamrolled the more likely it is that I will improve enough to steamroll others in the future. Getting paired against better players is really the best thing, especially if you can talk to them in person or on skype/vent while they are steamrolling you. It is the fastest way to get better.

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't give two shits about Single Player.

I spend too much time programming to have any interest in a bunch of triggers telling a unit to go to X location and play Y sound and find it interesting.

This game is all about the competition.

Unfortunately for you, the multiplayer parts are also a computer program.

But its the difference between playing a poorly-done AI and an actual thinking human being.

I've enjoyed the story of the first SC and SC:BW I just despise the medium.

I guess I don't like how poorly an RTS plays when they shove it into an RPG hole (hawt).

RPG? There ain't no RPG here.

But wait, you hate singleplayer games? Lol wat

Single Player modes of RTSs, not single players in general.

And yes, they turn into weird half-RPGs that don't play like either an RTS or an RPG and just generally piss me off.

I'm not criticizing any of you for liking it, I just don't care for it/have no interest in playing it. All I like is the competitive ladder but then again I love chess and most people seem to find it boring so <shrug>

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't give two shits about Single Player.

I spend too much time programming to have any interest in a bunch of triggers telling a unit to go to X location and play Y sound and find it interesting.

This game is all about the competition.

Unfortunately for you, the multiplayer parts are also a computer program.

But its the difference between playing a poorly-done AI and an actual thinking human being.

I've enjoyed the story of the first SC and SC:BW I just despise the medium.

I guess I don't like how poorly an RTS plays when they shove it into an RPG hole (hawt).

RPG? There ain't no RPG here.

But wait, you hate singleplayer games? Lol wat

Single Player modes of RTSs, not single players in general.

And yes, they turn into weird half-RPGs that don't play like either an RTS or an RPG and just generally piss me off.

I'm not criticizing any of you for liking it, I just don't care for it/have no interest in playing it. All I like is the competitive ladder but then again I love chess and most people seem to find it boring so <shrug>

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't give two shits about Single Player.

I spend too much time programming to have any interest in a bunch of triggers telling a unit to go to X location and play Y sound and find it interesting.

This game is all about the competition.

Unfortunately for you, the multiplayer parts are also a computer program.

But its the difference between playing a poorly-done AI and an actual thinking human being.

I've enjoyed the story of the first SC and SC:BW I just despise the medium.

I guess I don't like how poorly an RTS plays when they shove it into an RPG hole (hawt).

RPG? There ain't no RPG here.

But wait, you hate singleplayer games? Lol wat

Single Player modes of RTSs, not single players in general.

And yes, they turn into weird half-RPGs that don't play like either an RTS or an RPG and just generally piss me off.

I'm not criticizing any of you for liking it, I just don't care for it/have no interest in playing it. All I like is the competitive ladder but then again I love chess and most people seem to find it boring so <shrug>

The RPG part being what? Lasting research? Story?

Anything that doesn't involve using strategy against an opponent with access to equal resources and time.

Everything else is more like DnD than RTS. Blizzard is the dungeon master creating maps where you run around with little hero units and only occasionally make bases and raise armies but never against an equal opponent.

Oh man, just had a super-sweet game that made me feel like I know what I'm doing.

Opening of 14 pool speedling/baneling, did a quick bust, killed a few marines, and his natural response was.... seige tanks. Which did go against my infestor planned counter to the MMM ball I was expecting from the 4-rax opening, but I also was transitioning into Muta Harass. And of course, then I just kept making mutas out the ass when he had a ton of tanks.

Wait, has Exoplasm been streaming the lobby games? I hope no one had to sit through my TvTs with Trus and that other Terran whose name eludes me. It's sad because I used to love this match-up, but more often than not the game turns into a long grindfest of tank lines and a battle for air superiority. I've been messing around with more ground-based strats focusing on Marauders, but it's quite difficult to use them effectively. I usually just end up sending them straight into a siege line and watch them melt like butter.

oh I get it. any time I face a protoss, no matter what I see in their base, there are void rays coming.

3 out of four games I've played.

Which is funny, because I haven't built a single VR when playing Protoss in probably two months (minus the month where there was no beta obviously).

e: I lied, I forgot that the other day I did a late game transition from stalkers/colossi to air to support my friends push to win us the game. I built two VR's just to have as anti-building DPS while I harassed the crap out of the guy with Phoenixes.

I just played a 40 minute game just with speedings and banelings and a handful of queens defending against a muta ling player. Too many for his mutas to deal with before all his lings are gone, and queens stop mutas from being much of an issue. Couldn't expand, pressure with lings entire time, he turtled up with a bunch of spinecrawlers and from there I knew game was mine. I do same thing with zealot/void players. I try to go roach once in a while, but they just feel useless.

Ezekiel on July 2010

I will throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on you. I will spread your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains. I will drench the land with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains, and the ravines will be filled with your flesh. - Ezekiel 32: 4-6

I just had a really weird baneling experience. ZvT and after my bust and killing off his Mauraders+Marines, I had like 6 half-health lings against his SCVs. I figured I might as well just try to get as many kills on the SCVs before the lings fell, since I hadn't taken down the rocks and it was scrap station, I figured that I wouldn't be able to reinforce in time enough to make a difference and starting powering drones and tech for a bit....

oh I get it. any time I face a protoss, no matter what I see in their base, there are void rays coming.

3 out of four games I've played.

I've found that if you are zerg and I can wall in with a zealot, I will get 1-2 zealots to plug up the choke, while I go for two voidrays to win the game

I just can't seem to crack toss today. I play terran. I see gateways so I go racks units but either I don't get enough out (my own fault but disappointing) OR 2 void rays show up behind my base while I fight their main army. there are always enough stalkers to make me want to get marauders which are useless against the VRs.

and the game where there were no VRs, I still overdid it on the marines cause I thought they might be coming. didn't have enough marauders to deal with the stalker attack. and they ate up my marines.

So, I have come into a little birthday money and have decided that some of it should be spent acquiring Starcraft 2.

Now, although I am in the beta, I don't plan on playing it that much because I am enjoying WoW at the moment--imagine that. But I would like to bone up on my strategy a little bit in preparation for launch. I watch HD Starcraft religiously (jesuschrist I am such a nerd how the fuck did I end up watching and ENJOYING Starcraft casts) so I get a good bit of ideas from those pros.

But besides that, and playing the occasional game against the Comp in Baby Diaper mode, what's a good way for me to bone up on strategies for the races, specifically protoss. I've done a little digging, but I haven't found any information that I really like and would be useful to a nub like me.

So, I have come into a little birthday money and have decided that some of it should be spent acquiring Starcraft 2.

Now, although I am in the beta, I don't plan on playing it that much because I am enjoying WoW at the moment--imagine that. But I would like to bone up on my strategy a little bit in preparation for launch. I watch HD Starcraft religiously (jesuschrist I am such a nerd how the fuck did I end up watching and ENJOYING Starcraft casts) so I get a good bit of ideas from those pros.

But besides that, and playing the occasional game against the Comp in Baby Diaper mode, what's a good way for me to bone up on strategies for the races, specifically protoss. I've done a little digging, but I haven't found any information that I really like and would be useful to a nub like me.

oh I get it. any time I face a protoss, no matter what I see in their base, there are void rays coming.

3 out of four games I've played.

I've found that if you are zerg and I can wall in with a zealot, I will get 1-2 zealots to plug up the choke, while I go for two voidrays to win the game

I just can't seem to crack toss today. I play terran. I see gateways so I go racks units but either I don't get enough out (my own fault but disappointing) OR 2 void rays show up behind my base while I fight their main army. there are always enough stalkers to make me want to get marauders which are useless against the VRs.

and the game where there were no VRs, I still overdid it on the marines cause I thought they might be coming. didn't have enough marauders to deal with the stalker attack. and they ate up my marines.

Marines can be effective against Stalkers, especially when paired with EMP. If you're having trouble with Void Rays, you could try the early Marine+Ghost build. It destroys Rays and can still wreck gateway units with well-placed EMPs.

oh I get it. any time I face a protoss, no matter what I see in their base, there are void rays coming.

3 out of four games I've played.

I've found that if you are zerg and I can wall in with a zealot, I will get 1-2 zealots to plug up the choke, while I go for two voidrays to win the game

I just can't seem to crack toss today. I play terran. I see gateways so I go racks units but either I don't get enough out (my own fault but disappointing) OR 2 void rays show up behind my base while I fight their main army. there are always enough stalkers to make me want to get marauders which are useless against the VRs.

and the game where there were no VRs, I still overdid it on the marines cause I thought they might be coming. didn't have enough marauders to deal with the stalker attack. and they ate up my marines.

Marines can be effective against Stalkers, especially when paired with EMP. If you're having trouble with Void Rays, you could try the early Marine+Ghost build. It destroys Rays and can still wreck gateway units with well-placed EMPs.

ghosts!

yeah okay. I knew I had to be missing some huge option. thank you. something I knew but have rarely implemented (although oddly enough last night is the first time I used it, emp'd nicely and all... and then I guess I forgot!) so I need to work it in a bit better.

Not wrong...there may be plenty of reasons to only make one...but a couple extra widens your range of options considerably.

Spreading creep. (Soooo important)
Air D (4 or so can take on a surprising amount...transfusion is amazing)
Bane blocking on ramps
No gas cost!!!

etc..

Ezekiel on July 2010

I will throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on you. I will spread your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains. I will drench the land with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains, and the ravines will be filled with your flesh. - Ezekiel 32: 4-6

Queens are very strong against any early threat of air units. In the event that you build a couple extra and that threat never materializes, they're reasonable defense against hellion and zergling harass while providing you with extra creep tumours and eventually transitioning to future expansions. All this for 2 food and 150 minerals.

Shorter version: If I'm unable to see what's going on in my opponents base for an extended period in the early game and I'm fearful of mutas, banshees, vikings, phoenixes or void rays, I'll build an extra pair of queens.